CBC-Sports

This week's work: Red Wings at Leafs

November 6, 2009 11:40 AM | Posted by   Jim Hughson  

Read up on the latest tidbits and trends as Hockey Night in Canada's play-by-play voice Jim Hughson takes you behind the scenes and into the game.

This week’s work: Detroit Red Wings at Toronto Maple Leafs | Saturday, Nov. 7, 7 pm ET/4 pm PT (CBC, CBCSports.ca)

The script:

After last Saturday’s 3-1 win in Calgary, Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said, “For the first time all year we were a five-man unit, we made some nice plays. It was impressive. We looked like a hockey team.”

That served as an ominous warning to the league that, despite a slow start, reports of the Wings demise are rather premature.

The Wings returned home and dispatched the Bruins 2-0 then beat San Jose 2-1 in a game they deserved to win before the shootout. They’ve won three in a row and four of five.

So what’s got the winged wheel rolling straight again?

The Wings made a few changes and new players like Todd Bertuzzi, Jason Williams and Patrick Eaves had to assimilate, but mostly the returnees had to crank their game up a notch. The Wings played 227 games over the past two seasons then started this one in Sweden.

I guess we can forgive them if they took a while to warm up.

Pavel Datsyuk has points in four of the last five and Henrik Zetterberg was the best player on the ice against San Jose. Meanwhile, Chris Osgood is playing regularly and stopping the puck again.

Babcock felt before the season that Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm had to make the team to keep the Wings regenerating talent. Abdelkader is just now starting to find his game and Helm, after a pre-season shoulder injury, is back to the speed game we saw in the playoffs.

We all keep wondering when the cracks will start to show, but the Wings are back at the top of the Central Division and when they put out the first-unit power play of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Lidstrom and Rafalski you’ll see they look far from their expiration date.

The bottom line is: It’s a huge challenge for the Leafs to get their first home win.

On the hot stove:

Jason Blake gets as much ice time as any Leaf forward yet he hasn’t scored a goal on home ice. Blake is a traditional slow starter having scored fewer goals and taken fewer shots in October than any other month. It’s November now and his first month at home is one to forget. In six home games, he hasn’t scored a goal, has one assist with 19 shots on goal and is minus-6.

ISO camera on:

This will be a real test for Phil Kessel. It’s his first back-to-back games and against an opponent that won’t make it easy. Players coming back from long-term injury usually get through the first game or two on adrenaline alone, and then find it difficult for a week or two while they get into game shape.

There are those in Boston who felt that Kessel got by on great skill and didn’t keep himself in terrific condition, but his numbers last season didn’t show that. He scored eight of his 36 goals in the second game of back to backs. He also had 10 goals in March and April then six more in the playoffs while playing with an injured shoulder.

Tape-room topics:

Blake isn’t alone in his inability to score at home. The Leafs have scored just nine goals in six home games and only four at even strength. Alexei Ponikarovsky, Jay Rosehill, Niklas Hagman and Ian White have scored them. It can’t be a good thing when November comes and you can name a team’s even-strength goal scorers at home.

Babcock has put together a line with Darren Helm at centre and Kris Draper and Patrick Eaves on the wings. Draper has called it the fastest line he’s ever played on.

Mikhail Grabovski, who was so inept at faceoffs last season that he should have just chased the puck instead of putting his stick down, has gone through an incredible transformation. He went into Friday’s game in Carolina having won over 50 per cent of his draws in five of his last six games and a stout 61 per cent in the last six overall.

From the stat pack:

Of Kessel’s first 66 goals in the NHL, 21 were scored with the game tied, 13 in the last five minutes and seven were game winners. He’s only scored two in blowouts and has never scored a goal in overtime.

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